Najib did not exercise reasonable diligence to obtain purported house arrest addendum, Federal Court hears

Malay Mail

17 hours ago

PUTRAJAYA, July 2 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak did not exercise reasonable diligence to obtain a purported addendum or 'supplementary order' issued by the King for house arrest when the latter took the matter to court, the Federal Court heard today.
Attorney General Tan Sri Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar argued Najib had failed to demonstrate the supposed addendum could not have been obtained with reasonable diligence before a judicial review hearing at the High Court in July last year.
Today's hearing pertains to the Attorney General Chambers' (AGC) appeal against the Court of Appeal's majority decision to grant Najib leave to continue his court case to get house arrest.
Mohd Dusuki said Najib had, as early as February 12, 2024, received credible information, in addition to the Early Release Order (pardon order) dated January 29, 2024, from the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong, which included an 'addendum' permitting him to serve the remainder of his six-year prison sentence at home instead of the Kajang Prison.
Yet, no efforts were shown as to whether Najib tried to communicate with Istana Negara or Istana Pahang on the matter, Mohd Dusuki explained to a three-judge panel chaired by Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Hasnah Mohammed Hashim
The other Federal Court judges on the panel were Datuk Zabariah Mohd Yusof and Datuk Hanipah Farikullah.
Datuk Muhammad Nizar, Najib's son and a Pahang state exco member, only managed to obtain an original unsigned copy from the Pahang palace with strict instructions that the same should not be used without the consent of the Sultan — days before the Court of Appeal was schedule to hear Najib's appeal over the High Court's dismissal of his judicial review application.
In Nizar's affidavit, he claimed the comptroller of the Sultan of Pahang's royal household Datuk Ahmad Khirrizal Ab Rahman had confirmed the existence of the addendum order and verified its authenticity.
Mohd Dusuki said the new evidence only came about after the High Court had dismissed Najib's leave application for judicial review to ascertain the existence of the addendum and to compel its subsequent execution.
'The minority judgment was correct in finding that reasonable diligence was lacking,' he said.
The AG's appeal at the Federal Court is important as it will determine whether Najib's court bid to ultimately be placed under house arrest can continue or not.
On January 6, in a 2-1 majority decision, the Court of Appeal remitted the case on Najib's claim of the existence of an additional document purportedly allowing him to serve the remainder of his six-year prison sentence under house arrest, to the High Court to be heard on its merits.
Court of Appeal judge Datuk Azizah Nawawi, who dissented, said there was no appealable error in the High Court judge's findings, noting that there had been a delay since Muhammad Nizar only obtained the addendum many months after the High Court ruling.
In April 2024, Najib filed a judicial review at the High Court seeking an order for the federal government and the Pardons Board to confirm that the house arrest addendum actually exists.
In his leave application, Najib claimed Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah issued the order during the January 29, 2024 meeting of the board, for the former to serve the remainder of his reduced sentence under house arrest.
Najib also alleged that he received confirmation on February 12, 2024, about the issuance of the 'supplementary order' or Addendum Order, which would allow him to serve a reduced prison sentence at home instead of the Kajang Prison where he is currently housed.
He also wanted the High Court to order the Malaysian government to carry out the addendum by removing him from the Kajang Prison and allow him to serve out the remainder of his jail sentence at his Kuala Lumpur house.
With the judicial review application, Najib needed to get the court's permission for his challenge to be heard, which was denied last year.
On February 2, 2024, the Pardon's Board halved Najib's sentence to six years for misappropriating funds amounting to RM42 million, which means he could be released as early as August 23, 2028.
Najib has been imprisoned since August 23, 2022, after the Federal Court upheld his conviction for criminal breach of trust, power abuse, and money laundering over the misappropriation of SRC International Sdn Bhd's funds.